I'm still standing
by terfle
Summary: Jill's nasty niece has come to stay. But Jill isn't putting up with any nonsense
1. Chapter 1

Doctor Weatherill walked into reception and surveyed the disaster in front of her, Doctor Ormerod and his 2 children gambolling around the chairs and tables like puppies. 'Peek a boo! Come and get me!' If that was all the communication he could attempt today, she'd give his office a miss. She stalked off with disbelief down the corridor. He was always off with the fairies. She had no patience for it. She rounded the corner and saw a truly gruesome sight in front of her. Lizzie and Alun were snogging next to the window. Eugh. Like she hadn't had enough of it at home with her parents. She came in on them this morning at the kitchen table. She bet they were still at it. Disgusting.

A knock on her door later that day brought her back into the real world. She sighed. Propping her magazine behind the jug, she yelled a bored 'come in.' A nose peeped round the door; it was Lizzie with a message in her hand. 'Someone gave me this to give to you.' Great. Another letter of boredom. She tore it open and read the contents. Her eye caught something. She sat up with trepidation.

'Morning Doctor.' She wheeled around and stared at him. She had no doubt of what he was there for. 'I thought I'd told you to back off' she hissed. Lizzie stopped dialling and looked nervously on. She was in a scary kind of mood. Better ignore it and hope they would have their little spat outside. Jill took her brother aside and spoke to him in tones that would have a leopard flinch. 'I am not stupid to fall for that again. That brat is not going to take over my life. I'm not looking after her and that is that.' 'Just for a few weeks Jill, please.' His wheedling tone didn't deter her from her original threat. 'Enough is enough. She is not coming to live here and not with me. Got it?'

3 days later, the brat in question landed on her doorstep with a suitcase and a scowl. 'Don't touch anything' warned her aunt as she stepped through the door. She was rewarded with a glare from the brat. 'Do you want a sandwich?' she called from the kitchen, trying to be hospitable. 'Caroline?' She looked back and saw the child slumped on her sofa, flicking the pages of her bedtime book around. It wasn't a piece of literature for a child. Tearing it out of her hands, and shoving it on a top shelf, a sandwich was placed before her. Caroline looked at it, poked it around her plate and announced that she didn't like cheese. 'What would you prefer? asked Jill exasperatedly. Jam was the answer she was informed, so she went back into the kitchen muttering curses under her breath like no tomorrow. This kid had better toe the line; otherwise some real trouble would ensue. Caroline. She hated that name. What on earth possessed her brother to pick it?

That letter was the last straw she thought, tearing it up and dropping it into the bin. A pathetic plea to look after that kid. As if she didn't have enough problems, what with Lizzie and Alun snogging all over the place and that stupid patient Mr Raeworth, him and his arthritis and however many bunions he cultivated on his feet. Life sucked.

She poured herself a drink and settled down with her book. But not for long. The sound of hammering rocked the house. As she ran upstairs, book aside and scowl back in place, she saw Caroline banging a nail into the wall. Brat! As she wrestled with the hammer, the kid was explaining about how a picture of daddy might go up well on the walls. Jill was no way having a picture of her errant brother on her immaculate walls. It ruined her colour scheme. She had no doubt that she had to get rid of her, and fast. She sat in her favourite armchair, scheming…


	2. Chapter 2

'What kind of repercussion are you planning for?' Lunchtime in Jill's office and Nurse Beaumont was busy outlining her plans for the removal of numero uno brat. 'Something a little less explosive than my brother coming around and asking where she is.' That wouldn't do. He mustn't suspect a thing. Now about that rubbish truck…she was interrupted by that dolt Gordon. 'Does anyone want some tea?' the enquiry went as he stuck his head around the door. Polite inclinations prompted him to shout down the corridor 'Lizzie! 2 teas please.' His own was left on Jill's desk, staining her desk with rings of grime.

This was not her day. Stuff the tea, she wanted some whiskey. But she had none in her drawers. Dammit. Just as well. Gordon the gopher might ferret around in her desk and find something he shouldn't. Irritating little weasel. He could bore you to death in 10 minutes flat; look at his patients for goodness sakes. They were so unresponsive due to disinterest, they were practically dead. Now that's an idea. Stick him in a room with Caroline. Hmmm…Samantha noticed the smile spreading across her face and realised a plan was forming in the Doctor's mind. Little did she know the answer to the problem was close at hand…

'Hello. How are you today?' Gordon cooed at the kid. She was no fool. She knew he was an idiot. Dammit. Gotta think fast. 'Dr Ormerod's here for tea.' She smiled in what she hoped was a convincing manner. By the look on Caroline's face, it was obvious she wasn't falling for it. Half an hour later they were sitting at the table with tea and biscuits, heartily wishing it could end. Apart from Doctor Ormerod, who was in his element. Little kid. No wonder he got on so well with little kids, his house must be a haven of tweedom. Jill was having none of it in her house. Apart from in emergencies. After he had gone, Caroline told her that her friends were silly and she wasn't interested in having tea parties. Jill privately agreed. Of course she gave the child a cold glare and swept upstairs after checking nothing risky was offering a fun park in her kitchen, dining room or any other room of the house the kid might wander into. No more Ms nice guy. She was going to get tough. That sap Gordon didn't work, she'll use another one.

6 pints, 4 vodkas, 3 whiskeys and a brandy later, Jill was no wiser as to how she was going to get rid of the brat. She was sniffing the neck of the next full bottle when Caroline appeared, the image of innocence in her white nightie and worn teddy bear. Upon closer inspection, it was missing a head and several limbs. Stressed no doubt. 'Can I have some?' Er no, she wasn't having any. 'Get to bed, I'll make you some hot chocolate later.' 'Can I have some now?' What was wrong with midnight hot chocolate? Today's youth was too impatient. 'It's not midnight yet, go to bed.' The brat showed signs of impertinence. 'NOW!' was the yell as Caroline ran up the stairs, teddy torso trembling in fright. She was in a mood now. Just as well she had stored snacks under her pillow.

However, Auntie Jill wouldn't get away with that too easily. A plan was needed to put her in her place…

'Sit still and don't touch anything' she hissed to Caroline. The child rolled her eyes and went to sit down. She'd been in lots of offices; the current school she was at was a nice big one with comfy chairs. She wondered what there was to wreck in her aunt's office. Not a lot by the looks of things. Her contemplative gaze travelled around the room…aha. Nestled among the jumper and scarf thrown off by Jill this morning was a small bottle…by now she was sneaking across the room, checking the label. Brandy, she knew it. Looked around before taking an experimental sip. Her dad drank this in large quantities. Too much at times, to notice that she'd climbed down the tree outside her window. There wasn't one here. Didn't matter, she'd be gone soon; she'd make sure of that.

The door opened and she scrambled back to her seat. Turning to Matron surveying her from the safety of the door, she grinned a sickly smile, hoping it would take her off the track. She'd met Jill's parents that morning, both boring old codgers. She hadn't seen them before because of their bingo night; they came home late last night. Very late in fact. Oh well, wasn't her problem. 'Everything alright?' asked Matron. Out came the beam. Looked like a bloody angel. Appearances can be deceiving. 'Just waiting for auntie Jill to come back' she chirruped. 'That's nice dear.' Matron didn't usually take to children, but this one looked alright. Sitting there good as gold. Not many kids did that nowadays. The good old days. 'She's busy with patients at the moment. 'That's not what she said this morning.' 'Really?'

The aunt in question came through the door. 'Had fun? Good.' She dumped a pile of papers on the desk and flicked through them. 'I am a little concerned that the child hasn't been given anything to do' started Matron. Jill glared at her. That shut the old bat up. She pushed the papers at the kid. 'There you go. Sort them out. Something to do. Mess them up you die. Got it?' Caroline met her surly glare with an angel smile. 'Thank you auntie.' She walked to the window and lit a ciggie. 'How did your tests go by the way? Got the results back yet?' She turned around, smoke coming out of her ears literally. Matron's head popped around the door again with intrigue. 'What test?' Jill wasn't going to let the kid get the better of her. 'You know. The tests you were going to get. The ones to do with…' Her voice trailed off under the tiger glare beamed in full force at her. Her aunt wasn't too happy. 'Hmm?' enquired Matron. 'Tests? Are you ill?' She got the full force of the tigerness this time. 'You know those pills you were taking last night? In the little bottles. About 5 of them.' She levelled her stare with the kid. She wasn't going to let Matron know she was overdosing on the vitamins. She'd be a laughing stock. That kid wasn't going to get away with it. Let Matron think they were on steroids or something, she didn't care. 'That's enough thanks Caroline. Get on with your work.' She turned her heel and left a goggling Matron and the sweetly smiling kid in her office. 'Pills?' Matron found her voice again, looking at Caroline. She shrugged at looked at the stack of papers, mentally counting the score in her head. 1 each. Time to put up the stakes.


	3. Chapter 3

That child wasn't quite right in the head she thought as she drove back to the village. Trying to hitch a lift all the way to the next town and then insisting turning back and getting Jill to pick her up. Proper humiliating. Little brat. She'd show her when she got back.

Later that evening, she sat Caroline down and explained to her that her parents weren't going out to bingo tonight. As she might have a few house calls, she would have to rely on her to entertain them. Could she do that sweetie? Auntie would be ever so grateful. Caroline wouldn't know what hit her…She chuckled to herself internally. For once she was grateful her parents were aging play bunnies, it gave her an excuse to go out some evenings. And Caroline as an excuse to stay in. Hehehe.

Meanwhile back at house, Caroline was killing herself. This set of grandparents were TERRIBLE. Never mind they gave her tea with no sugar; they had the bad grace to send some uneatable, indigestible biscuits to go with. And that perpetual snogging. Yuck. She didn't quite know what that meant, but it sounded distressing enough to explain the situation. She hoped she wouldn't be like that when she was older. Was she even thinking about that now? ARRRRRRRGGGHH! She was going mad! Surely Auntie Jill was coming to rescue her soon? Her mind ticked. Hang on a minute. When had she said she was coming back? She didn't quite catch it. Suspicions surfaced. Had she been left there on purpose with the aging play bunnies? She had. The word was out of her mouth before the newsreader had quite finished reading on the TV. Her grandparents stopped their nuzzling and looked over in surprise. 'Now that's not a word a young lady uses' her grandmother fussed.

Later on that night, Jill stole back in, treading cautiously in case of broken glass or even broken bones. Nope, the place was spotless. Strange…

'Pretty picture' smirked Gordon on the way to his 4th cup of coffee. Jill glowered and covered it up again, this time with a sheaf of files, weighted with some gravel from the garden path. Bloody Caroline. She'd wrecked her revenge on Jill's passport picture with some sticky paper and markers. They had a routine government check today and Matron would not be amused to have among her staff, a pretty picture of a horned, moustachioed doctor with buck teeth and long dark hair. She must have had a good time last night with her grandparents. An evil smile played on Jill's lips; seconds before Samantha passed her desk and enquired about plan B. She'd sort her out.

Plan B? She brooded on it, picture check over and done with. That kid was going to regret it. Badly. Wasn't quite sure what she was playing at but she'd get down to the bottom of it. Her eyes fell on her filing system. She'd buggered that up too. Little madam. It took her ages to crack her code and she'd listed them under each annoying trait she could gather. Mrs Brown under the 'doddery old dingbats' section and so on…there's an idea, shove her in a drawer. But she'd find a way to crawl out of it somehow. Bother. If her parent's shenanigans didn't stop her, something else might.

She rummaged around for a while and came up with a dubious mixture of plan B and a reminder of her own childhood at that stupid boarding school she was sent to while her parents bonded with nature at that hippy commune near Glastonbury. Bloody pointless. Should she just slap her and be done with it? Or instil some perfectly good manners in the child before her brother came back? That would kill him. The evil smile was back for quite a while yet…

Sunlight streamed through the open windows and lit up the pit called Caroline's bedroom while at auntie Jill's house, like a sparkling pool of gold. Dust floated in the air where Jill had disturbed it a few minutes before, flinging open the door, doing the curtains and wrenching open cupboards, posters taken off the walls to let the light shine down on some faded piece of wall, all in the name of good manners. Caroline sat up blearily and watched her aunt dismantle her room to pieces in the sunshine. It felt like a death sentence. 'What the hell are you doing?' Jill stopped for a moment, the sun radiantly shining on her hair. 'Why tidying out your room of course' she exclaimed cheerfully, tossing aside her mutant doll and surveying the wreck that was Caroline's sock drawer. She had made the mess of course. 'Good morning' said she, walking out the door. 'Wait a minute!' exclaimed Caroline. 'Do I have to clean all this up? It was in a perfectly ordered mess before.' Jill popped her head around the door and smiled wickedly at her. 'Hurry up; you don't want to be late for breakfast. Granny and Grandpa want you to pull out their chairs for them and made them tea and toast. Can you manage that? Good.' This was turning out to be a day from hell. Jill whistled as she scampered downstairs. The brat didn't know what what was going to hit her…


	4. Chapter 4

'Chair in when you get up from the table, carry the cups and plates to the sink when you're finished' instructed Jill lazily. Caroline lugged the stuff over and considered her options. Running away had done no good. Nor was drugging her up. She would stick it out, she wouldn't crack, not her! She'd be the best damn housekeeper and then auntie Jill wouldn't have anything to complain. The cow. She found the washing up liquid and started to scrub…

'Thank you.'

'That's a nice dress you're wearing.'

'Can I help with that?'

Sister Brigid glanced at her suspiciously. She had been a model child all week, answering nicely with the word 'please' floating around a lot. She didn't like it. She was ready to bet Caroline had put something nasty in her drawers again, last time she opened the desk, a spider had crept out at lightening speed before she'd stopped screaming. She didn't trust her one bit…

Meanwhile, at reception, Lizzie and Dr Ormerod felt like a bit of a chat. 'Did you know that Caroline's been as nice as pie to me all week? Even complimented me on my dress sense.' That was no mean feat as Gordon well knew, but he wasn't going to say it. 'Doctor Weatherill seems a bit happier now.' Lizzie wasn't going to say anything about the child's father, a massive man with a goatee and leather trousers, but clearly Jill Weatherill's brother was a man to reckon with. And his daughter was a right minx. Painting the maternity ward in bright yellow and graffiti over Mr Harper's door. Thought it was the porter, never considering about Caroline, whose angelic face inspired a good morning on the rounds. Stupid man.

'Any chance of a cup of tea?'

Gordon appeared at the door, empty mug in hand, newspaper in the other, snuffling for a refill. Jill shot him a look that said 'not with me you're not.' He sat on the edge of her desk and idly played with her toy train on her desk. 'So how's your little bundle of joy?' Jill glanced at him incredulously and then over her little bundle of brat carefully measuring lines with a ruler in the corner. She snorted and turned back to her filing. 'Yeh, she's a real prodigy.' He raised his eyebrows and shook his coffee cup at her. She pushed him off the desk, onto the floor with a heavy flump.

'Don't push it.'

Her heels went clacking out of the door.

'Can I help you with that?' Caroline stood over him with her ruler, smile switched on. He was glad someone round here bothered to be pleasant company. What a prat.

'Hows my little girl then?'

'Daddyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!'

He swept her into his arms and surveyed the scene. Neatly stacked rows of papers in neatly stacked piles, mugs stacked neatly on the sideboard, a scowl stacked neatly on his sister's face. She knew he'd turn up. Ah well, he could take her and be done with; she'd had enough of that girl to last the rest of her lifetime. Be gone, brat!

'Hows my fave sister?'

She knocked his hand off the table and polished it with her scarf. 'I'm your only bloody sister.'

'Just as well.' He flashed his pearly whites. 'Otherwise I would have to put up with more grumpy faces every time I appear. Hows she been?'

Jill considered the options. She could say she had been a treasure or a holy terror. Either way wouldn't make a difference. 'As good as she could be' was her diplomatic answer. He laughed, a rippling roar that shook the office walls. Dr Ormerod walking past with his coffee mug, stopped, looked at the biker on Jill's desk and fled down the corridor. Fast.

'I've come to take my little muppet home.'

Good, thought she. About time too.

'I was wondering if she could come in the summer holidays. You know, hang out with her auntie Jill.' Jill froze. No way. That wasn't going to happen again. She wasn't going to agree with the concept of more auntie Jill, niece Caroline time, no way.

'Hello, can I help you?' Matron eyed up this newcomer with distaste, he was getting grime all over her pristine carpets. The ones she paid Ken to clean when he wasn't dropping bits of ash around. 'Just leaving. Come on princess.' He hoisted the dubious angel on his shoulders and started for the door. 'Talk to you later sis.' Hopefully never, she resolved.

'Mind the walls!'

'I do hope you didn't give your aunt a nasty time. You can be a bit boisterous.'

They were in the caravan going home. Caroline gave her nicest smile. 'I was perfect actually. She'll miss me when I'm gone.'

Jill gave a satisfied smile. She'd gotten rid of Caroline, the resident snoggers had been evacuated from behind the supply cupboard and her parents were out at Bingo tonight. A squawk free night. She opened her book with contentment. Lying there was the biggest spider she'd ever seen. The biggest scream the village had ever heard resonated that night…it would have made Caroline proud.

'1 up to me' she thought sleepily. 'I'm still standing.'


End file.
